Huron County launches Community Safety and Well-Being Plan

The health, safety, and well-being of Huron County’s 60,000 residents is the focus of a new working group that launched phase one of a four phase plan to identify and address the risk factors facing individuals in the largely rural region.

“Because the police can’t do it all,” said Michaela Johnston, a member of the Huron County Community Safety and Well-Being Working Group.

Phase one addresses mental health and addiction. Huron County saw a 26 per cent increase in mental health calls by front line officers from 2020 to 2021.

“Eating disorders have increased. Substance abuse has increased. Anxiety has increased. More and more, I’m seeing younger and younger people develop a mental illness,” said Lynn Higgs, who manages Mental Health Services at the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Goderich.

The dramatic increase in the cost of living is exacerbating the problem, according to local experts.

“Sometimes the decision between paying their mortgage and paying their bills. It’s a struggle. We’re seeing significant increases in the number of people coming forward,” says Catherine Hardman, Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association of Huron-Perth.

Members of Huron County’s Community Safety and Well-Being plan discussed the four priorities they will be working on this year on Jan. 19, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

Changes to Ontario’s Police Services Act mandated each municipality in the province to come up with a Community Safety and Well-Being plan by 2021.

Huron County’s nine municipalities have joined forces to focus on four priorities:

• Mental Health and Addictions
• Housing and Homelessness
• Family and Domestic Violence
• Community Security

“We need to get back to taking care of each other. We need to start building our communities again, and looking out for each other. We’ve lost that. People are more isolated and feeling alone,” said Hardman.

The first campaign poster for Huron County’s Community Safety and Well-Being plan-Source-Huron County. (Source: Huron County)

Co-ordinated messaging providing the services, both locally and nationally, to get mental health and addictions help will be coming to Huron County social media feeds this month. The final three priorities will have similar co-ordinated messaging and responses throughout the year now that the Community Safety and Well-Being Working Group is up and running.

“This kind of campaign brings us all together, to look at the intersections between our programs,” said Dana Bozzatto, director at the Huron-Perth Centre providing mental health services to Huron County youth.

“We’re trying to break down the stigma and barriers that prevent people from getting help, and reaching out,” said Rodney Phillips, manager of Outpatient Mental Health Services for the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance.